Ashes Glory Fun All the Way for Trott ; Exclusive: Pressure Was Never an Issue, Insists Bears Batsman

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AUSTRALIA captain Ricky Ponting had warned that Jonathan Trott would be under "massive pressure". The cricket world was watching. Even England's selectors admitted they couldn't possibly know how he would react. Trott went in at the deepest of deep ends when pitched into the Ashes decider at The Oval last week. Test debuts don't come more high-pressure or high-pro- file. Pressure? What pressure? For Trott it was simply "the most fun I have ever had in my life." It turned out to be the stuff of dreams and folklore as the Warwickshire batsman struck 41 and 119 to help England regain the Ashes. Ponting, generous in defeat, reflected that the debutante looked "a million dollars" after a solid first innings was ended only by a freak run out then a magnifi- cent century ground Australia into the Oval dust and fixed England's hands firmly on the famous urn.

"It was a pretty special few days," Trott said. "I loved every single moment. "After I was out in the first innings I just sat in the dressing-room still with my pads on thinking that was the most fun I have ever had in my life. I loved it. I couldn't believe I got out the way I did but couldn't wait to get back on the field. Deafening "Then in the second innings, walking out to bat with Andrew Strauss on the third day was just incredible. When we stepped out of the pavilion we were hit by this deafening roar. Andrew turned to me and smiled and said: "Did you hear that?" "It gave me a tingle down my spine and I looked down and all the hairs on my arms were standing up. It was almost as big as the Edgbaston roar - almost but not quite. "Stuart Broad's bowling had really got the crowd going and we just needed to bat some time and build the lead. The other guys made it easy for me because they put the bowlers under pressure and got the fielders back. Andrew Flintoff came in and batted the way he does then Broady and Graeme Swann did the same. "Swanny was batting when I got into the 80s and came up to me and said 'look, just keep going and get yourself a century'.

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Ashes Glory Fun All the Way for Trott ; Exclusive: Pressure Was Never an Issue, Insists Bears Batsman

That summed up how the other players helped me all through. They made me really welcome which made it easy to ...

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